LTP 01

Chapter  01

A short but dazzling summer in the Belothea Empire.

Cassian Sarkis, who arrived at the port, squinted his eyes against the pouring sunlight.

“Your Majesty, are you alright?”

A salty breeze tickled his chiseled face. Cassian slowly brushed back his tangled black hair.

Even those passing by held their breath and glanced at the man at the picturesque sight.

“My fiancée was planning to defect today.”

Cassian got straight to his business, seemingly oblivious to what others thought.

“It seems that you were trying to board a ship departing for the kingdom.”

After turning his life upside down, he’s trying to run away?

Cassian let out a stifled breath through his clenched teeth.

“Are you already on board?”

“Yes, that’s right. Should I bring it over?”

Was he trying to find that worthless childhood friend who had moved to the kingdom?

Cassian, who was staring at the ship, burst into laughter.

A vivid jealousy was boiling in his red eyes.

“No, I’ll go myself.”

He barely managed to pull his straight lips together and smile, as if he wouldn’t allow any rebuttal.

* * *

The narrow passage in front of the cabin was deserted and somewhat dark.

And there, shining alone, was a woman who seemed completely out of place.

‘It really was here.’

Cassian bit his lip to suppress the surging passion.

It was fortunate that he found her before she was lost forever, but it was devastating to learn that she had truly intended to abandon him.

“Damia Ponti.”

The woman, startled by the call, turned around.

He was wearing a shabby cloak, as if he was trying to hide his identity.

“Why are you so surprised? Did you really think I wouldn’t be able to find you?”

I only took a couple of steps closer, and before I knew it, I had her backed up against a wall.

Damia’s purple eyes widened like a rabbit’s, as if she was shocked by my appearance.

Even in the midst of all this, I found it funny that I found that sight endearing.

“Your Majesty, no, Your Excellency the Duke. Why on earth are you here…?”

“Why? I came to pick up my fiancée who ran away before our wedding.”

“A wedding? You really thought you’d marry me?”

“what?”

Cassian’s eyes fluttered for a moment at the unexpected question.

“And running away? What did I do wrong to run away?”

Maybe he wasn’t trying to run away after all?

A little hope rose in Cassian’s chest.

“I’m just… leaving. To start anew.”

The shock of being thrown into the abyss came immediately.

“…and there is no place for me in your new beginning?”

“yes?”

Damia just asked back with a puzzled look on her face.

“That’s… no, shouldn’t you get off quickly? What are you going to do when the ship sets sail?”

“Don’t change the subject, Damia. When were you going to propose first? Are you tired of me now?”

“Why are you suddenly acting like this? You’ve shown absolutely no interest in me throughout our contract period!”

Damia looked around and then cried out in a low voice. Her voice sounded genuinely aggrieved.

“Didn’t you personally hand me the contract, saying it would be a mistake to mistake it for favor? You kept emphasizing that this engagement was merely a transaction!”

It wasn’t a completely wrong point, so Cassian’s fiery spirit died down.

At that moment, her beautiful silver hair came out of her cloak and fluttered in the wind.

Every time Damia moved, a uniquely sweet scent wafted out. The sanity I’d barely managed to hold onto seemed about to snap.

“So, you’re going to the kingdom to start something new? You’re not planning on going to that guy who calls himself your childhood friend…?”

Damia took a short breath and averted her gaze.

It was an unusual reaction for a fiancée who always looked straight at Cassian despite his cold treatment.

“Did you really mean it?”

“No, I…….”

A sigh-like laugh escaped Cassian.

Rather than lose Damia like this, I wanted to get down on my knees and beg her not to abandon me.

Even though I have never bowed my head to anyone since the moment I was born.

But I was afraid that if I continued like that, Damia would get sick of him forever.

“You said you loved me? You said you loved me so much that you wanted to stay by my side even though you knew you would die soon.”

“that…….”

“When did you decide to leave? Did someone bother you? Or did I do something wrong?”

“That’s not it.”

“…So, you were planning on leaving like this from the beginning?”

“No, that’s… There was absolutely no way Your Majesty would fall in love with me this time either….”

Damia, who seemed to have lost her mind, muttered something incomprehensible, but Cassian did not sense any discomfort.

I just stared at Damia’s purple eyes, which were shaking so much that it was pitiful.

Her lips, which had been constantly moving, were unable to utter a single denial or excuse.

“haha…….”

Seeing his reaction, it became clear today: he had been secretly in love with my fiancée.

I felt like I was lost between the clumsy affection I realized too late and the presumptuous betrayal I felt toward Damia.

The breath that raced every time I thought of her. Countless nights spent wide awake, consumed by feelings I couldn’t acknowledge.

“Damia, you can’t leave.”

Before he knew it, the arrogant boy had disappeared, leaving only a dangerously desperate looking man.

“No matter what your intentions were in proposing to me, I have no intention of letting you go for the rest of my life.”

“Your Majesty, our contract is already over.”

Damia’s voice was very firm, as if there was no use regretting it now.

Little did he know that that flimsy contract would still be holding him back.

“Even sympathy is good.”

“What did you say?”

“If you tell me to beg, I’ll beg. No, I’ll do anything you ask. So please, just don’t abandon me.”

In the end, Cassian ended up begging desperately.

Damia turned pale, as if she had forgotten how to breathe.

“Your Majesty, you clearly found me annoying. But why…?”

The hot summer air was stifling, but it wasn’t as painful as Damia’s expression of confusion.

Yes, the day I first met this cowardly fiancée was a bright summer day like today, when I was fifteen.

* * *

“I have a prophecy for you. Your brilliant life will soon come to an end.”

“…what?”

Cassian Sarkis, a fifteen-year-old boy who was leisurely leaning against a tree and admiring the lake, frowned.

“Instead, I’ll rescue it for you. I actually love you, Little Duke.”

Silver hair that reached her waist and a face that shone like a jewel. Her young face was as pretty as a doll, but she was so skinny that it was pitiful.

And he was very calm about the very precocious and unexpected confession.

“Ah, I’m Damia of the Viscountess Ponti. We’re from a very humble family, and I’ve never really had much of a presence, so you probably don’t know me.”

Even the belated self-introduction was quite something.

“What are you talking about? Is this a new approach? They’re up to all sorts of tricks now.”

Every girl in the Belothea Empire was trying all sorts of strange tricks to get Cassian’s attention.

It was at that moment that Cassian snorted and was about to give the girl a scolding.

Damia Ponti smiled as if she had expected this.

“You’ve already decided on the day you’ll die, right?”

“…What, what did you say?”

It was a single word so shocking that it froze the boy’s entire body.

“What nonsense are you talking about now?”

“Unfortunately, your denial was a beat late, Your Highness.”

Damia sighed lightly and shrugged.

“You don’t have to hide anything from me. I’m on your side, Little Duke.”

He looked a few years younger than Cassian, but his eyes looked as if he was looking at him with pity, as if he were a much younger brother.

“Where on earth did you hear this story from…….”

It seemed as if sparks were flying from Cassian’s eyes.

Although it was a hasty prodding that would have made a normal girl burst into tears, Damia looked perfectly calm.

“Okay, now I’ll explain my value to you.”

“Do you think you can get away with saying something like that to me right now?”

“Instead, please be my fiancée.”

As the sole heir to the Sarkis Dukedom, Cassian’s life was picture-perfect.

Until, in the summer of my fifteenth year, when a seemingly insignificant young lady discovered my lifelong secret and made a surprise proposal to me.